Officials Disclose Plans For Vehicles Fueled By Alcohol

May 5, 1989|Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials have begun sensitive negotiations with major automakers over a plan that could require them by the end of the century to produce millions of cars and trucks that burn alcohol- fuel blends, administration officials said on Thursday.

At the same time, as a separate part of its effort to restart the long- stalled effort to strengthen the nation`s clean-air laws, White House officials have prepared a series of options for handling airborne carcinogens that they plan to present to the Cabinet`s Domestic Policy Council today.

A copy of the options paper, obtained by The Los Angeles Times, indicates that even the administration`s most aggressive option would do less to reduce the level of toxic chemicals in the air than a proposal endorsed last year by the Reagan administration.

The airborne-carcinogens options and the alcohol-fuels proposal, which is designed to reduce smog from the burning of gasoline, met immediate criticism from environmentalists.

The third portion of the clean-air package, a plan to control emissions thought to cause acid rain, has already been presented to the Domestic Policy Council.

The administration`s plan would call for significant reductions in acid rain, sources said, although less than environmental organizations have been hoping for.

Bush hopes to have the full clean-air plan, one of two major domestic policy initiatives that the administration has planned for this spring, ready to present to Congress before the end of the month.